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The ACORN Vote

New Orleans Yesterday from field reports it seemed the two remaining major candidates on the Democratic Party side were campaigning hard for the “ACORN Vote” and what it represents.
This report from Matthew Henderson, ACORN Head Organizer in New Mexico, on an Obama event there:

Obama came to Albuquerque today and asked us to provide him with an expert who could address numerous economic issues on a panel of five experts that he was convening. Bonnie Greathouse represented us in front of a crowd of 2,700, joined by former Commerce Secretary Daley and Energy Secretary Pena. She was the sole working person, and she brought cheers from the crowd, talking about our work on predatory lending and our lead in raising the minimum wage across the country.

Talk about injecting the foreclosure stuff into the presidential debate. Obama talked at length about the issue, and talked up all the kinds of relief we would want him to.

On a personal and humorous note, Matthew added to his report:

I told my staff I would vote for him on Tuesday if he said “ACORN” three or more times today. He had said it twice by the time I left near the end of question and answers. I’ll let you know if he hit #3 after I left.

Jon Kest, New York ACORN Head Organizer, filed a shorter “Treo” report that was equally clear as he landed on Jet Blue in New York from New Orleans:

Just saw Hillarys new tv ad:

Has Bertha running up to Hillary and giving her a big hug

From some ’06 event we did

Funny

Bertha is of course Bertha Lewis, Executive Director of New York ACORN, who is obviously carving out her own special piece of fame as a hugger and kisser, since it was only a year ago that she was featured laying a wet one on Mayor Bloomberg as the agreement was made to build affordable units in Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn. It is a small footnote to observe how smart and savvy both of these candidates are. It is another obvious footnote that ACORN has become iconic as a way of stating — particularly in the wake of Edwards’ departure from the race — that a candidate still stands in the right place on race, equity, and justice issues. This is all very interesting and powerful stuff!